Pennsylvania ground zero yet again for claims about election irregularities, fraud

WASHINGTON — With Election Day less than a week away, Pennsylvania finds itself ground zero yet again for claims about irregularities or fraud swirling around registration forms, mail ballot applications and access to the polls.

Officials in Lancaster and York counties say they're digging into recent deliveries of large batches of election materials, including suspicious voter registration forms. And the Trump campaign this week sued Bucks County after officials allegedly cut off long lines of voters seeking to apply for mail ballots as part of the early voting process.

Secretary of State Al Schmidt and local officials this week have sought to calm voters' nerves and confront perceptions of turmoil impacting confidence in the election in the wake of social media posts and dramatic claims of faults in the state's electoral system.

Heightened by a Trump campaign that's relentlessly made false widespread election fraud accusations even as leaders of both major parties maintain Pennsylvania's elections are secure, the concerns come as the battle for the Keystone State's 19 Electoral College votes could hinge on any number of bellwether counties or the margins of victories in Republican or Democratic strongholds.

Election officials statewide are working on verifying that all those who applied to register to vote are eligible, Schmidt told reporters in a virtual news conference Wednesday. He added that officials are reviewing whether everyone who sought a mail ballot provided proper identification and that returned mail ballots came from registered voters who had followed the instructions.

Schmidt also said he was aware of election-related videos that have circulated online that are presented without proper context or are inaccurate. He called the dissemination of such videos "harmful to our representative democracy," and urged voters to seek election information from trusted sources, noting his agency was a prime place to get answers.

Although Schmidt's department had accepted questions emailed by reporters hours before he spoke, his presentation online was a one-way affair that offered no opportunity for direct or follow-up questioning by reporters. He did not mention any county by name.

News of the large deliveries to York County prompted Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump — who has consistently and falsely insisted that he won Pennsylvania in both 2016 and 2020 — to allege on social media Tuesday that the county "received THOUSANDS of potentially FRAUDULENT Voter Registration Forms and Mail-In Ballot Applications from a third party group."

"This is on top of Lancaster County being caught with 2600 Fake Ballots and Forms, all written by the same person ... WHAT IS GOING ON IN PENNSYLVANIA?" he said.

York County President Commissioner Julie Wheeler acknowledged in a statement that the county's office of Elections and Voter Registration had "received a large delivery containing thousands of election-related materials from a third-party organization."

"Those materials appear to include completed voter registration forms, as well as mail-in ballot applications," she said. "As with all submissions, our staff follows a process for ensuring all voter registrations and mail-in ballot requests are legal. That process is currently underway."

Saying officials "are committed to ensuring the integrity, safety and security of our elections," Wheeler added that if suspected fraud turns up, the District Attorney's Office will be alerted.

"The Office of the District Attorney has been in constant contact with the York County Commissioners and York County Board of Elections regarding any potential irregularities they are seeing and observing that may necessitate further investigation," the DA's office said in a statement Tuesday. "As we have always done, this office will investigate any matter regarding elections that require a criminal investigation and if needed, would prosecute any cases where the evidence is sufficient to support a conviction."

In a news conference last week, Lancaster County leaders said they had "contained and segregated" almost 2,500 voter registration forms that are now going through "an extensive multistep review process including checks for duplicate handwriting matching other voter registration forms, inconsistent signatures with what is on file in the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors (SURE) system, inaccurate or unverifiable addresses and inaccurate driver's license or Social Security numbers," according the county's district attorney's office

Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams said the preliminary investigation "indicates these fraudulent voter registration applications are connected to a large-scale canvassing operation for voter registrations dating back to June. The majority of applications received are dated August 15 and after. Those canvassing for voter applications were employed and paid to obtain voter registration applications."

"The Elections system in Lancaster County is secure," the DA's office said in a statement. "Our systems worked. We will continue to operate with the highest levels of veracity, integrity, and transparency so that Lancaster County voters can be confident in our election."

Michael Fitzpatrick, spokesman for the Lancaster County Office of the Commissioners, told the Post-Gazette on Wednesday that there were no updates to report since Friday.

"This is still an ongoing investigation, and the District Attorney will provide an update when her office is prepared to," he said.

Meanwhile, the Trump-Vance campaign said Wednesday that it had filed a lawsuit against Bucks County "for turning away voters ... a direct violation of Pennsylvanians' rights to cast their ballot — and all voters have a right to STAY in line."

"The Pennsylvania Department of State made clear if voters are in line at a county elections office by 5:00PM, the counties MUST give voters the opportunity to apply for their mail-in ballot," the campaign said in an email Wednesday morning. "Pennsylvania voters were turned away as early as 2:30PM."

The Secretary of State's office — which said earlier this week it's also been talking with York and Lancaster County officials about their investigations — said it spoke with Bucks County election officials Tuesday. The county officials "assured us that every registered voter who goes to their county election office by 5 p.m. today will be provided an opportunity to apply for their mail ballot," the Secretary of State's office said.

"Please be patient with all county election office staff as they work hard to ensure every registered voter is able to vote in this election," the state office added.

Bucks County officials pinned the claims of voter suppression on a "miscommunication," saying on social media Tuesday that "contrary to what is being depicted," voters were able to submit their application for an on-demand main-in ballot if they were in line Tuesday by 5 p.m.

"We are aware that, due to a miscommunication, individuals in line to apply for an on-demand mail-in ballot were briefly told they could not be accommodated," the county added. "In fact, these voters were given the opportunity to submit mail-in ballot applications today."

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